Hands Off Homework?

Assistance with homework has long been a hot potato for both schools
and parents. And fingers are still getting burned on both sides. It's
clear that both independent and public schools should be doing a better
job communicating with parents on this substantive issue.

Parents frequently ask how they can help their children with their
schoolwork. But they also often worry: "If I help my son, he'll get in
trouble with Mr. Oldham, who'll be angry when he sees that it's not
David's work." So these parents decide to leave David and Tanisha
entirely on their own. But then there is also the mother who carefully
proofreads her daughter's every paper--correcting spelling and
grammatical errors, substituting synonyms for words that sound awkward.
And the teacher, of course, notices the different handwriting on the
rough draft--and Susan does, in fact, get in trouble. "Hands off!" is
the clear message. It's no wonder that many parents feel confused about
what they can--or should--do in trying to help their children with
homework.

Our schools need to help relieve these anxieties, to deter
inappropriate assistance, and to show parents how they can be a
legitimate and important part of the homework process. In the first
parent mailing of the year, schools could enclose a special "homework
bulletin" pinpointing several appropriate areas in which parental
involvement can help reinforce their children's learning rates,
performance, and confidence. Such a bulletin could even encourage a
positive, hands-on approach, helping parents look first at these
"background areas":

Reading: Vital--to the building of a strong vocabulary (and
better s.a.t. scores down the road), to stronger overall
reading-comprehension skills, and to the sense of self-worth that
comes with a child's having his or her very own area of expertise.
That expertise might range from dinosaurs in the early years to cars,
military history, women in the Middle Ages, or electronic music.
Suggest that parents consider, if they haven't already done so,
interesting books as possible birthday or holiday gifts--whatever
fiction, biographies, sports accounts, or histories fit their child's
areas of interest. (Subject-area teachers can help with specific
suggestions.)

The telephone: A teenager's lifeline. But it can also be a
tremendous distraction during valuable evening study time. Suggest
allowing the child to select her 15-minute or half-hour telephone
"break" in the time slot she needs it most, giving her the feeling
that she does have some say in the matter, some control over her
life--but also reserving the rest of the evening for getting that
homework done well. (Friends will need to be alerted that this will
be her phone slot, and a parent can volunteer to take messages for
any stray calls that might still slip through during non-phone-break
times.)

Television: An issue families need to address together. Some
parents have a blanket policy of no weeknight TV for their children.
Others say no TV until all homework is done. Still others allow no
more than one hour of TV--a program of the child's choice. (The
"until homework's done" policy may encourage sloppy work in the name
of getting finished in time for a show.)

Awareness of children's physical study conditions can be of further
help. Some children concentrate best at a desk, while others feel more
comfortable working at a table in the dining room or kitchen. Obvious
as it may seem, schools should remind parents of the importance of good
lighting, a smooth writing surface, and a comfortable chair offering
firm support. (They should be alerted that a soft, reclining chair is
not a good idea unless their child intends to go to sleep early; for
the same reason, lying on a bed is one of the worst ways to study.) But
no matter what the room, their son or daughter needs to be free from
background distractions of television and loud conversation. For some,
"white noise" provided by soft instrumental music (no words, no rock)
helps to mask such sounds; for others, silence is more effective. These
options should be discussed.

How about general resources? Availability of books like The
Random House College Dictionary, a thesaurus (in non-dictionary
format), The Information Please Almanac, and The National
Geographic World Atlas (or even a historical atlas like the
outstanding Times Atlas of World History) can be tremendously
helpful, providing ease of reference in English, history, and
government courses.

Then there's that wonderful invention, the personal computer or word
processor, whose use is definitely worth encouraging in an era when
most schools and over 30 percent of our households already have them.
The bulletin can point out how a pc enables a child to do several
drafts of an English or history paper, thereby paying far closer
attention to the vital revision process. (Parents themselves probably
remember that when they were in school, revising a four-page English
paper required an hour just to recopy as a final draft; a word
processor can now eliminate that entire step.)

So much for "study environment" issues. The direct-assistance
question is the real hot potato. Although, understandably, some forms
of assistance are not appropriate, schools can assure parents that
there are still numerous ways in which they can be of significant help.
In English and other languages, for example, reading out the words or
their definitions can speed the review for that weekly vocabulary quiz.
The same is true of new French verb forms or the declension of various
Latin nouns and adjectives.

In mathematics and the sciences, there are multiplication tables
and, at higher levels, theorems to be memorized for proofs in geometry;
trigonometry formulas; differentiation and integration formulas in
calculus; motion, temperature, and volume formulas in physics; reaction
formulas in chemistry; all those body parts (plant, insect, and human)
in biology; and those famous and not-so-famous paintings in history of
art. As their children review material for a test, parents can quiz
them on the identification of random paintings from the text or on the
formula for the sine of 2x. Then, of course, asking dates or events or
key names in a brief history review--or the causes of a particular
revolution after a child has handed her parent the history book--can
also help children master such material more efficiently.

The bulletin would also need to address the actual process area,
which is a little trickier. Teachers of course expect students to write
their own English and history papers and do their own math homework.
Nevertheless, parents can still assist appropriately in a number of
ways. If they remember their algebra (or calculus), they can work
through an equivalent problem that was not assigned as homework,
thinking aloud as they approach the solution so their child will have a
better feel for the logic that needs to be applied to the actual
problem on which he's stuck. They can listen to the draft of an essay
or lab report and mention that the middle seems unclear or perhaps
needs more textual support. They can read the draft and can say, too,
that the grammar on page two needs checking or that it needs to be
reread with just punctuation in mind--but without pointing to specific
words or punctuation marks. It's important to explain that the teacher
needs to see the students' own work so he can assess actual strengths
and weaknesses, giving help in areas where it is most needed. And it is
vital for college and life thereafter that students develop early their
own all-important self-checking skills.

It's obvious that we all perform best in a supportive atmosphere in
which we are valued as individuals. Schools can help reinforce such an
atmosphere by pointing out that children will cherish a parent's
curiosity about which subjects they enjoy most, and why--and they'll
value parents' sharing with them course preferences they remember from
when they themselves were in school. And if a child is working hard but
with disappointing results, reassurance that some courses are more
difficult than others will be most appreciated. Too often parents
assume their children know this. They need to be reminded that actually
telling their child makes a big difference.

If problems persist in particular subject areas, parents should be
encouraged to let the school help: Teachers and advisers (or
counselors) can work with them and their child to set up extra help
sessions. (Only if these prove to be insufficient should a tutor be
recommended. The teacher and tutor can work together as a team, teacher
alerting tutor to specific areas of difficulty noticed during class or
in the extra sessions.)

In this whole process, communication is the key--between school and
parent, parent and child, and parent and school. Parental assistance at
home needs to complement efforts in the classroom as teacher and parent
focus together on skill-building and the enhancing, rather than
masking, of strengths that are not yet at desired levels. But first,
schools need to do a better job communicating to parents the areas in
which help on homework is appropriate, providing them with some of the
methods that can yield the best results. The outcome will be the
changing of confusion and anxiety on the home front into a gratifying
and productive reinforcement of their child's basic thinking skills,
linked to improved communications between home and school. A not
inconsiderable bonus will be enhancement of a child's self-confidence
as well as the strengthening of the relationships with his or her
teachers and parents.

Lee Gaillard is a writer and former secondary schools educator living in Philadelphia.

Vol. 14, Issue 15, Page 44

Published in Print: December 14, 1994, as Hands Off Homework?

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